Smart Savings Center
Reviews and Complaints

I don't know what type of company it is. I just noticed monthly withdrawals that I did not authorize. When I called to cancel, I could not understand what the heck she was saying.

Smartsavingscenter.com is invoicing me 3 times for one game that I have purchased. When I received the game with the invoice, the amount was not shown. When i look at my online statement, I was invoiced 3 times. I try calling customer service and it was an extremely long wait. I gave up waiting for customer service. Beware of this company when you are buying video games. I got the promotional link from IGN.com.

I will never purchase another video game from this company. There address is below with contact number.

Smartsavingscenter.com
999 W. Yamato Road Suite 100
Boca Raton, FL 33431
[protected]

A class action suit is needed. I was taken for a total of $560. These types of deceptive business practices must cease. Action must be taken against fraudulent companies such as SmartSavingsCenter.

The same thing happened to me! I am trying like hell (sorry for the language) to get these reversed or something..The only thing I could think of was a concert dvd with free shipping. I have YET been able to talk to a live person and I have sent two emails..so please contact me for any kind class action suit We are a lowincome family as well and it has caused a few checks to bounce which IVE NEVER done in the past.

Veronica Botts vbotts030907@bellsouth.net

I also fell victim to them... but after complaining enough and sending letters to the Florida Attorney General, I did receive a refund from them totaling $59.90. If you your self would like to raise a little cane (I highly suggest it) you can call THEIR OFFICE DIRECTLY not the one in a 3rd world country. All of their information I will list below. Good luck and tell them I said hi ;-)

Skip Middleton is the Executive Vice President at Xacti Group which is their parent company. Xacti can be contacted at:

[protected]
999 W. Yamato Rd
Suite 100
Boca Raton, FL 33481

When I called the 1st time I spoke with Lesley at extension 435, then with someone names Auntrey, and finally with Andrew.

I hope this helps!

I also fell victim to them... but after complaining enough and sending letters to the Florida Attorney General, I did receive a refund from them totaling $59.90. If you your self would like to raise a little cane (I highly suggest it) you can call THEIR OFFICE DIRECTLY not the one in a 3rd world country. All of their information I will list below. Good luck and tell them I said hi ;-)

Skip Middleton is the Executive Vice President at Xacti Group which is their parent company. Xacti can be contacted at:

[protected]
999 W. Yamato Rd
Suite 100
Boca Raton, FL 33481

When I called the 1st time I spoke with Lesley at extension 435, then with someone names Auntrey, and finally with Andrew.

I hope this helps!

I am going through this right now, I ordered a book, never received the book because I decidestocancel. I was charged the fees from SSCenmter and they won't give my money back. Plus! I filed a complaint with my credit card, they removed the charge, now SScenter is fighting it, would you believe they actually sent them the tracking number for the book that was never sent? The tracking number does not exist, and I never even got the book, they don't care if you do or not they just want to toss a bunch of charges on the account so they get rich.
Please be careful who you buy books and DVD's from.

I ordered a DVD on line and paid for it, and then was charged a monthly fee of 14.95 for no reason. I called them and to try and dispute this all it lead to was me being on hold for about 45 minutes and them not answering. Some one needs to do something about these people, it's amazing people can get away with stuff like this.

Thiefs! Probably no one will see these complaints until it's too late, just as I did. They are thiefs and scam artists, do yourself a favor and do not do business with them. It's the same complaint that everyone else has entered. I bought a DVD online and was automatically and without my knowledge or permission, signed up with these ###. They charged my CC $19.95 a month for their WORTHLESS service.

Please do not buy anything from SmartSavingsCenter, LLC, SmartSavingsCenter.com, hotmoviesale.com, This is my story of a very frustrating day I had yesterday that included 3 hours on the phone. I bever check my online statement. Now, that I was Lid Off from work I decided to check my bills to see where can I cut expenses. And I noticed this charge from SmartSavingsCenter.com for amounts that vary from $9.99 to $29.99 every month for the last 2 years. Yes, the last two years. I'm reporting this to the authorities, and I'm contacting DATELINE, the TV show to initiate an investigation. I will be happy to see these ### scammers put in jail and out of business. I also reported them to the BBB in Florida and WA where their domain is registered. Stay away from these ###. By the way, it is very hard to get them on the phone. They will do anything to avoid you.

Southeast Florida's Better Business Bureau has assigned SmartSavingsCenter.com an "F" rating . This rating should become flagged by one's ISP toolbar before clicking on any "discount " transaction--it may be a shadow front for them, whether books, DVDs computer games, etc. HotMovieSale & SmartSavingsCenter.com must be declared fraudulent by any means--this "F" rating is a good start

I'm in in San Francisco Bay Area. Ordered a sale DVD for $5.00 early March from Hotmoviesale.com Certain that checkout did not include any other charges. When tranaction concluded-received SPAM emails "welcoming" me to SmartSavingsCenter. Do not ignore this SPAM. It declares you will be charged $1.00 after three days & enrolls you as a member without your consent or intervention. I was later debited $29.95 twice & $1.00 four times before I caught the fraud on my bank statements. If you order anything from them the fine print on the invoice is from SmartSavingsCenter saying your membership has begun and they actually deduct these fees once they have your credit card information BEFORE your merchandise arrives. Complaints to their Customer Service Dept. were met with rude impertinence & rationalizations in one word: "membership"-what their reps parrot to thousands of callers. I closed that Master Card & switched checking accounts after alerting my bank to the fraud. But something must be done about this criminal enterprise. Only wish I knew of these posts before ordering from them-but caution is hereby urged for anyone reading this. The FTC recommends contacting Miami's Better Business Bureau but this sham enterprise must feel heat from as many quarters as possible.

FOR EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN RIPPED OFF AND STOLEN FROM BY SMARTSAVINGSCENTER.COM, YOU CAN COMPLAIN - AND SHOULD - TO BOTH THE STATE OF FLORIDA [CONSUMER COMPLAINTS] AS WELL AS TO THE GOVERNMENT'S INTERNET CRIME COMPLAINT CENTER AT WWW.IC3.GOV - WHICH IS A DIVISION OF THE FBI AS WELL AS THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AT 1.[protected]
LET'S SEE THIS CRIME SHOP BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS AND PEOPLE PUT IN JAIL.
christpatriot@gmail.com

Stay away from them, they claim to have great prices, great prices on crapy stuff made in china and when you recieve the item it does not even work. I ordered a portable am/fm cd player got the thing and the player did not work they nail you with shipping charges and then they srew you out if memebership fees, when you recieve the bank statement you will be shocked at the odasity of these "a holes".

Your better off buying the suff at best buy or else where buy the time your done buying something from this company you could have bought three times over.

WOW..we bought a book through DBS and apparently the was a small print somewhere that allowed SMART SAVING CENTER to automatically withdraw $29.95 every month for who knows what? We did not recieve any service for this! When I called the 1800 number I did talk to a person and he said you bought books. OK, so I figured it would dissapear..but NO..every month (now that we go back and recheck our statements- of which we should have done a more thourough job each month) we see that they have bilked us out of this for the last 6 months..GADS..
READ ALL THE FINE PRINT! I did cancel it and the man was helpful but the slyness of how they got their money is CRAP..WHat is going on in America? Sorry you cant trust..

I have these charges on my Discover Card and have no idea what they are for.

Couldn't agree more with all of the above compaints. I guess I was smart enough to read the "welcome" message that did in fact tell me I was a member (automatically) of some off the wall program and that if I didn't CALL and cancel within the next 3 days I would get charged $19.95 for the first month. Who knows what charge thereafter. Yes, I did call and "they" said my membership was cancelled and my $1.00 would be refunded? Oh, as for the book I ordered; well now they say I have an invalid address and the order will be cancelled. I am not surprised. I doubt I will ever see the $1.00 or my book. But I definately will keep a sharp eye on my credit card entries from this and other "affiliates". Buyer beware; if you think, like me, you are going to save a buck or two shopping at this site, think again...

I, too, am a victim of this company. I am really angry too. I cannot find a place to opt out of this so called membership. I will be calling them today. I did get the book I ordered but I sure don't want a membership with them. I wouldn't be saving any money after paying the membership fee so why would I want to do that. Perhaps I will talk to my bank and put a stop payment on them since everyone here has had a hard time with them.

I am a victim as well to this company. I ordered books total amount 20.95 and when I placed the order this thing popped up talking about membership. I did not check it and was trying to get back to a confirmation page for my order. I never saw it and didnt get one in my email as promised. I checked my account and they had added an additional 19.95 to my account. So thanks for having your complaints out here with the phone number to call them. I immediately called them and demanded a refund of everything. Told them I didnt want the books or the membership. Informed them if money was not credited into account by time specified that I would be coming after them. I will never use them again.

Please be aware. I will continue to watch my account.

I just dealt with this hot books person and was charged 29.29 2 months in a row and only ordered 1 book. She said I agreed to a membership when I ordered the book and you can't check out without agreeing to the membership. And that they have been sending me emails about this account. I haven't seen one email nor did I sign up for any member ship. I read fine print on every web site and sure missed this one if it was there. I don't even know how to get back to the web site. I didn't even get the book, she siad it was out of stock. They probably don't have books to begin with and just prey on people to get memberships and hope they don't catch the charges.
Le Ann in Iowa

I am having trouble with the company too. I put through an order and somehow got signed up for their membership. I have been charged twice, but I didn't catch it right away. They now say that I can only be reimbursed for one months worth. I agree be very wary of this site - buy from someone else!

I was so glad to have come across your comment, they did the same thing to me, after reading your comment I checked on my order, I ordered books paid for them and four days later was charged another 29.95 plus a dollar for what I don't know. I immeadiatley called them and told them to get my money refunded and I wanted no more to do with them.

Helen

I ordered an extremely cheap movie, $2.95 and $3.00 s/h. I accepted the Terms and Use, and in those, there was apparently a clause for a monthly membership fee of 29.95. I may have actually missed it on my statement, but for each membership charge, they also charge $1.00. I was billed by the Web site a total of at least 6 times. (1 membership fee for Dec, plus 2 $1.00 processing fees, and the same 3 charges for January- all on one statement). I went online and called to cancel my membership. I got scammed, shame on me for not reading the Terms and Use agreement.

I get my next credit card statement, and 3 new charges from SmartSavingsCenter.com are on there for February's membership. I called to complain again, they confirmed that I canceled last month, but they informed me that I just canceled my "1st membership, " and they would now cancel my "2nd membership." (mind you I adamantly expressed I wanted to close all accounts and memberships) They are reimbursing 1 of the 2 $1.00 processing fees.
Ultimately I paid $99.85 for a DVD. Never use this service.

I bought a book off of amazon.com for $2.17. I thought I was getting a great deal. A couple of weeks later I noticed a charge from the same company Smartsavingcenter.com for $29.95. I called the number and had a really hard time getting a live person on the phone. When I finally got a live person they were very hard to understand. I believe the call center is in India that fields all the complaint calls the company gets.

They asked if I wanted to cancel my membership. I informed the person on the phone that I just bought a book on the internet and never agreed to a membership of any kind! He said it happens automatically. So they would reverse the charge and cancel the 'membership'. Again this month there are two $1.00 charges from the company. I called the Indian call center and again they asked if I wanted to cancel the membership.

I have since called my bank and have had to write a letter of unauthorized withdrawals to my account and have had to cancel my card and get a new card. I would never buy a book from Amazon again seeing that they let smartsavingscenter.com abuse customers this way. I believe it's a scam and are withdrawing small amounts so people will not notice.

Ordered DVD, they charged me $29.95 without me authorizing. Pissed off. Going to find any bureau or complaint board to post these ###. Called and got the leave us a msg for a call back and voicemail is full and cannot take any more. Dont buy movies from Hotmovies.com. That is the name they phished me to smartsavingcenter.com. They got me one but never again. Isnt this against the law?

I did not authorize this transaction. I want it stopped. I have tried cancelling but to no avail.
Linda Butcher

I bought book for $2.20; I probably should have been leery the extremely low price, but I have found wonderful bargins on the net before. Anyway, I was charged an additional $1.00 on 02/06/09. For what? I don't know. My reciept nor the website checkout did not mention anything more than the original $2.20 charge. On 02/13/2009, I was charged $29.95. I called and got some guy with a foreign accent. He told me something about some membership to smartsavings.com. Now, originally I ordered this book through discountbooksales.com, so I don't know how smartsavings.com got involved. Well, I got a refund for the $29.95 on 02/17/09. However, I got charged another $1.00 on 03/02/09. Why? I don't know. I called my credit card company, Bank of America. They said that they would remove the additional $1.00 charge, but that I would have to dispute any additional charges on a month-to-month basis. What a scam. Locked into a loop of monthly charges in hopes that you may not act on them. I will call the postal authorities and see if they may be interested in this.

Fraudulent charges made to my credit card account for a book I ordered as a gift to www.smartsavingscenter.com, and then was signed up, without my authorization, for a $19.95 month Membership fee. When I called after repeatedly asking about the money that was taken without my consent the story kept changing about the amount I could be refunded. First it was 19.95 and they would cancel my subscription, then it was $20.00 finally it went to $40.00, of the $140.00 they owe me. I will be pursuing this much further.

They've charged me $19.95 every month since 12/19/2010 for a membership that is automatic if you make a purchase, unless you cancel after 7 days. In the process of trying to stop these charges, their website where I had to cancel says I'm not a member. In trying to cancel it sent me to 2 other sites all with a different URL address. Attached purchased confirmation receipt. They sent no other email unlike they stated, I have all my emails including trash files, and I received nothing notifying me of any membership fees.

I made an purchase and they said that I accepted a five-dollar discount and enrolled me as member. They charge $19.95 at first then later increased to 29.95. This is outright scam and there should be a way for internet merchants to gang up against those unethical practice that give honest merchants a bad name.
I am not should if there is a website available so that for any of us before making a purchase can go to that web site to find out the list of those unethical merchants to avoid.
I would also add buy.com to the list because for a purchase unknowingly became a member of "shopper discounts."

I have been attempting to cancel my membership for the past two months by phone and nothing seems to work. I am continuing to have charges appear on my credit card. What can I do?

Ordered nintendo game, and was not only billed for the game, but $29.95 for a membership fee. I NEVER authorized, or signed up for anything other than the item I ordered. These folks are scammers, and I doubt if they will ever credit me back. They also had the nearve to charge me $1.00 for the first months membership fee..

This Company withdrew 1.00 from my account for nothing.

i did not authorize these purchases

Two charges were put on my credit card without my authorization. This is illegal.

120 days ago: smartsavingcenter.com is a shlock, crappy business that automaticaly signs you up if you failed to read an extensive club application to the left of the order sheet when you happen to order a movie, or probably anything else. It's probably legal because the application is on the order sheet but the average person ordinarily wouldn't read it because they have no intention of joining anything they just want to buy something. The club charge keeps re-appearing on your bill even if you do not make any more purchases. When buying anything from a reputable company any other offers in addition to your purchase is spelled out plainly. I frankly can't think of any reputable company tricking you into joining a re-occuring billable club because they respect their customers and wouldn't dream of using that sort of trickery because you would never come back as a customer. I was charger $29.95 for several months, when I complained they cut their club charge in hal;f, but not for me.
Joe

t
he same exact thing happened to me. i ordered a tape for 11.98 and i still have not rec'd the dvd yet. i ordered on 3/5/09 and i have been charged 29.98 twice plus 1 dollar each week.

This is terrible. I did not catch these charges for over 3 months; due to trust that it was taken care of in November. I am so sadden that this is what this has come to now. I reported to the bank and FBI internet scams. I suggest everyone else do the same.

The same has happened to me and every two weeks there is a charge...

My case is identical to the others, I ordered a cheap movie, got that, then was charged a dollar for nothing . Like the other-complaint before me, I also cancelled my unauthorized charges from hotmoviessales.com. I received a confirmation email stating that it was cancelled. I have been calling over a $1 charge I did not authorize. The line is constantly busy can't get anyone to answer.

I am having the bad experience with this smartsavingcenter.com... It is true, they steal money... they charge me without my approval for more that two month until I see my credit card bill

I called after having cancelled the smartsavingscenter.com membership I did not sign up for, but somehow was signed up for while ordering a movie. I demanded my $29.95 back the first time I called in January, and I got it. Today, after calling over a $1 charge I did not auhorize, my cancellation in January was confirmed by two people on two different customer service lines that I had cancelled at least one of the two memberships, neither of which I signed up for. And the story for which membership I cancelled was different on each customer service line. Logically, the first number I called was the number listed by the charge on my bank account. When I got to speak to a person after waiting as the automated system asked, I asked what the charge was for and explained that I had cancelled my account and received a confirmation email. The CSR on the line said that I had cancelled my account with smartsavingscenter.com, but not hotmoviesales.com and that was what the dollar was for. I asked why, then, does it list smartsavingscenter.com as the entity charging me a dollar and demanded everything be cancelled. He tried to explain to me how it worked a few times and I told him I don't care how it works, I want everything cancelled, and I don't want smartsavingscenter.com to charge me for anything else. I also demanded he remove my bank card, knowing full well, having worked as a CSR before, that I might not get my dollar back because some places cannot process the return without the card on file for 24-48 hours. Genius scheme, huh? They gain a dollar by annoying people. Before disconnecting, I asked the number for hotmoviesales/deals/whatever.com, which is [protected]. I called that number, and this time was connected to a female CSR, who also confirmed my cancellation in January, and said that everything was supposed to be cancelled when I cancelled that. I asked her to explain, why, then, was I just charged one dollar. She said that it was because I had cancelled my membership with hotmoviesales.com, but not smartsavingscenter.com, the exact opposite of what the CSR I had just spoken to told me. I questioned her on this, and I told her I thought they were both liars and that I was sorry they had to work for such a horrible company. I also told her I was looking at this board to write my own complaint, and that I will be contacting the BBB and possibly the attorney general in this matter. I suggest you all do the same thing. Before I do that, I'm going to call my bank and tell them not to accept anymore charges from this evil, evil company. I can't wait until amazon.com sucks this company up and spits it out, squashes it like the ugly insect it is.

My case is identical to the others, I ordered a cheap movie, got that, then was charged a dollar for nothing which I disputed tonight I noticed the 29.95 charge I disputed the charge on line then called my cc and canceled it.

Esta es la peor pesadilla. es un robo te cargan a tu cuenta $29.95 y mensualmente $1.00 porque
y si les llamas se toman horas para atenderte.

It happend to me! I just called them that i wanna my 19.95 back and asked when the money will be back on my credit card. he said in 2 days. his name was migel . so i will see in 2 days! or i will call back. he was saying how sorry he was and blablabla, i cannot stand people like this! well now i go find out where i can report these thiefs!

UPDATE! I have had the same experience after buying some books on hotbooksale.com. After finding out about this scam I checked my email to find I (instead of super savings center) been made a member of bestbrandvalues.com. I then went to their site and used the password they gave me to cancel mt membership. It may be different scammers, but I think they may be changing their tactics.

I am a victim too.

On April 27th, 2010, I purchased a book on Hotbooksale.com. 10 days later I found out that my credit card was charged three times. Besides the cost of the book, I was also charged $1.00 and $19.95.

I called the company immediately. A representative told me that $1 was the fee of 7-day trial, and $19.95 was the monthly fee applied since I didn’t cancel the membership within 7 days. She said that by pressing submit/purchasing from this site I automatically get a 7-day $1 trial membership to BestBrandValues, and after the trial they will start charging $19.95/month. She cancelled my membership as requested but refused to refund the membership fees.

However, during this entire purchasing process, not a single word or any texts displayed on their web pages mentioned about or referred to “Membership and Related Fees”.

I feel that I was misled and tricked into a membership. This is one of the most blatant examples of a website taking advantage of a customer.

Its funny that you guys take out the time to write all this, but don't find the time to read the terms of offer. Tsk tsk smh.

I found a wonderful price on books at discountbookstore.com. The books that I wanted (5 of them) were marked at 5.91 after I added the first book to my cart the price on the rest jumped up to 10.91. At this point I began researching trying to find a way to email them to inquire about this. (My husband is on the phone or I would have called). During my research I found all of your feedback! Thank you so much for posting this, You have saved me from becoming their next victim!

I am a very savvy internet purchaser and am always checking to make sure I am not signing up for anything that I do not want. These guys are slick, and slipped this one past me. I got hit with the 19.95. There is no way that I agreed to a membership but I did get the dvd at the agreed price. Now it just cost me 25.95 instead of 6.95.
They also told me that I got 3 emails from them. I read all my emails and didn't get anything from them. I even read my spam box. these guys are bad, I really hope the Attorney General in Florida takes them down.

DO NOT ORDER FROM HOT BOOKS AND DO NOT AGREE FOR AGREE FOR ANY FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIPS. SMART SAVING CENTER IS A FRAUD AND A SCAM. I WAS CHARGED MONTHLY 6 - $12.00 FEES ($72) WITH OUT MY CONSENT. I CALLED TO BE REIMBURSED ALL BUT THEY ONLY DID 3 OF THE 6. I AM WRITING A LETTER TO THE DISPUTE DEPT. IF I DO NOT HEAR FROM THEM WITH IN A WEEK AND IF I DON'T GET REIMBURSED ALL OF MY $72, I WILL ESCALATE TO FLORIDA'S DISTRICT ATTOURNEYS.

I am a victim, too I ordered Hotbooks. com and they continues to charge membership fee of $19.95 without my knowledge. I am pissed off and I would like to know how they pop up on overstock. com. I still have my order form from them. Alda Ashford

BEWARE of ******HotMovieSale.com****. I Pre-ordered Twilight to insure I would get it. First off when the movie came out I receive a e-mail stating it was back ordered. Why would they pre-sale something to customers they didn't have. After 2 months I asked to cancel my order and to not be charged. I got a response of "no problem" You're account hasn't been charged and wouldn't have until the movie was sent. Okay fast ward 4 months later I notice a recurring charge for $12.oo. SO on top of not getting the movie they charged my credit card $48.00 for NOTHING. Case in point people, just go buy your movies/books/CD's from a actual store it will save you the aggravation.